Sanctum
by Willow in Winter
Summary: Shepard, Thane, and Garrus set out to disable the Blue Suns transmission.  Some fluff and drabble ensues.  FemShep/Thane.  Rating for language and gore.


Author's Note: Nothing terribly exciting here...mainly want to work on writing battles and Sarah a little bit more. Some liberties have been taken in regards to head shots and shields. This is a oneshot for now, but there may be some Thane lovin' in the future. :) Anyway, enjoy!

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><p>The Blue Suns were really starting to piss Sarah off. Colonists were disappearing by the thousands and she was wasting time chasing some limp-dick mercenaries around the galaxy. She shifted her assault rifle in her lap as the shuttle rapidly descended. Dusk had fallen on Sanctum and the cabin was dim. Thane Krios sat calmly on the bench opposite her, gazing out the small window, the stars reflected in his black eyes. It amazed Sarah how calm he was before missions. He didn't fidget, didn't check his weapons for the hundredth time. The drell simply sat with an easy grace, his fingers woven together, as if he were waiting for a friend. He caught her eye and smiled.<p>

"Relax, siha." The soft gravel of his voice helped calm her irritation and she gave a half-smile back.

"I am relaxed," she drawled, slouching back against the seat. "I just can't believe I'm wasting time on these fuckers."

"Save it for the mercs," said Garrus, his visor glowing blue in the low light. She rolled her eyes. For all that Garrus was a soldier born and bred, he was the only one who would talk to her as if rank and file didn't matter. They were friends who'd been through hell and back together, and she appreciated his frank honesty in all situations.

It was hot inside the small craft; sweat was starting to bead on the back of her neck under her helmet and in the small of her back. Her N7 armor was excellent protection in a firefight, but was not the most breathable material.

The shuttle driver's voice crackled in their earpieces. "Thirty seconds to touch-down. Good luck Commander."

The landing party held on as the shuttle tilted crazily on its descent.

"Let's keep this short and sweet boys," Shepard said, testing her communicator. "I'd like to be ship-side in time for dinner. Gardner said he was making something good."

Garrus chuckled dryly. "You humans, always thinking with your stomachs."

They heard the vertical thrusters kick in and the shuttle leveled out, then jerked sharply when it landed. The door slid open, revealing the base entrance about fifty yards away. Shepard, Thane, and Garrus moved out without hesitation toward their positions.

When she'd initially picked her team for this mission, Sarah had gotten some flak from Miranda who complained with very thinly veiled contempt that it wasn't diverse enough. The Catsuit had suggested that since Shepard had considerable soldiering skills but was less proficient at biotics and tech, she should choose individuals to balance these weaknesses.

"Commander, Thane's biotic ability is limited at best, and none of you can hack an AI should the need arise, and it most likely will considering it's the Blue Suns we're talking about here. The three of you together may be great at sniping away all day long but you just aren't equipped to handle specialized situations!"

_Fuck you. _ "A shot to the head generally works pretty well."

The Catsuit threw up her hands in exasperation. "And what do you do when guns are no longer an option? When you're out of clips? With all due respect Commander Shepard, you are not thinking this through properly!"

Sarah knew she was being difficult, but it was just too much fun with this bio-engineered bitch. "I watched Thane take down three guys with a stick once. I'm not too worried," she quipped.

The Cerberus operative opened her mouth to speak again but Sarah cut her off.

"Look, Miranda. The only reason I'm here today is because I'm damn good at what I do. And if I say that two soldiers and an assassin are what it takes to get the job done then that's who's going. If and when I _do_ get us all blown up, you'll be in charge and you can call the shots. Until that day, remember who is Commander of this ship."

Miranda's nostrils flared in fury and her lips thinned to a bare line. Without a word she turned on her heel and stalked away, boots clicking on the floor.

What The Catsuit didn't understand was that there was so much more to a team than a balance of talents. There was trust, camaraderie, and a certain balls-to-the-wall attitude that Sarah particularly appreciated. Was a balance worth considering? Absolutely, and there was not a mission that came up without Sarah carefully considering potential obstacles that could be surmounted by the talents of certain individuals. For this particular mission, they would possibly be facing mechs in addition to the mercenaries. Nothing a good missile launcher couldn't handle. And for picking their way through hordes of mercs, it was Garrus and Thane she wanted by her side.

Garrus was one of the extremely few people on the Normandy that she trusted absolutely, in addition to Joker. And perhaps, more recently, Thane. They'd been through a lot together, and despite their differences, Sarah felt very close to Garrus. He would go down fighting with her no matter what happened.

Thane was…well. Thane was Thane. And she was his siha. Sarah wasn't afraid to admit to herself that she was mildly obsessed with the drell. She had been since he dropped down from the ventilation shaft and laid waste to a room of body guards in about five seconds. She loved the way his voice sounded, she loved how exotic he looked. During their nightly talks that often lasted to the small hours of the morning she had learned to love his philosophies. And she loved to watch him fight, moving with the fluid grace and swiftness of a panther. Plus, he and Garrus seemed to get along well together. Whether it was being two aliens on a mainly human vessel, Sarah didn't know, but she often caught them discussing the intricacies of the M-97 Viper sniper rifle during dinner.

And of course, there was that one time he'd kissed her silly in the elevator but that had nothing to do with it right?

The three of them functioned like a well-oiled machine on missions, and Sarah found herself hardly giving direction, trusting them to know what to do. So it was with quick efficiency now that they moved quietly and deliberately into cover behind the rocks, Thane behind with his eye to the scope, Garrus forward with her, M-15 at his shoulder.

Shepard readied her own assault rifle, peering down the sights toward the door, nerves humming with anticipation.

The bay doors opened and Blue Suns mercs began streaming out.

"Contact!" said Shepard as the rock field lit up with gunfire. The door was a perfect bottleneck, allowing the team to easily thin the merc numbers before they even cleared the threshold. The blue trail of a missile zoomed over head and Sarah pressed her comm.

"Thane, take down the heavies."

"Copy that."

The merc's head exploded in a pink mist before she could get off another rocket.

"Nice shot," growled Garrus.

The mercs kept coming and Shepard found herself getting irritated again at how long this was taking. _Fuck this shit._ She switched to her shotgun and vaulted herself over the rock, blasting a nearby trooper at close range in the chest, toppling him flat. Someone shouted her name but she ignored it as she stormed across the field. The mercenary focused on pinning Garrus behind cover never saw her coming. She slammed the butt of her shotgun into the side of his head with the force of a charging rhinoceros. He toppled bonelessly, hitting the ground heavily. For good measure, Shepard aimed the barrel of her gun at his head and pulled the trigger.

She charged off again, vaulting over dead bodies, a grim smile on her lips as she strafed across the battlefield. The sharp crack of the M-97 could be heard and the merc in front of her toppled, clutching his gushing neck. _Thanks Thane._ She blasted another mercenary and slid into cover like a baseball player sliding into home. There was another brief burst of assault rifle and then the field fell silent.

Shepard peeped up over the rock and pressed her comm. "Status?"

"We're clear," said Garrus, walking up behind her. "Spirits Shepard, let us know before you pull another stunt like that."

She stood up. "Yeah, well…" she grinned at him. "You guys were killing them too slowly." Behind his visor, Garrus rolled his eyes and moved away toward the door to check the crates there. She turned to follow but a hand like iron gripped her forearm.

"Siha," murmured a deliciously gravelly voice. "You should not take such risks." Sarah turned to see Thane frowning down at her, disapproval rolling off him in waves.

Shepard stood her ground. "Thane, it's my job to take risks. And I happen to be damn good at my job, you don't need to worry about me." She smiled up at him crookedly and his grip on her forearm lessened. "Why do you care so much Krios?"

He blinked, both sets of lids flicking over the dark sclera. Then he smiled back at her, pulling her close, close enough to smell the leather he was wearing. "I…you are truly one of the warrior-angels of Arashu. She watches over you but I cannot help—"

"Commander I suggest we keep moving," called Garrus.

Sarah tore herself out of Thane's bottomless eyes and snapped to attention. "You're right, let's go." She heard Thane heave a sigh behind her.

They spent a few short moments gathering extra heat sinks from the battlefield and marking resource crates for deployment to the Normandy, then Shepard gave the signal and they moved forward toward the door.

The shooting started almost as soon as they passed through the door. The Normandy team had the high ground, and took cover behind the fortified glass of the balcony. "Let's bring the rain boys," said Sarah, opening fire on the floor below.

Glass splintered and cracked as they received fire from below, but thankfully it held under the onslaught. Next to her Thane threw a warp, staggering one of the mercs. She finished him off with a well placed blast from her rifle. Signaling for the other two to advance down the stairs, Sarah stood and laid down a wave of suppressive fire, sending mercs diving for cover left and right. Thane and Garrus took cover behind the lobby couches of the middle level. With a heave, she hauled herself over the glass partition, falling the few feet to the floor below and joined Thane, crouched low. Garrus, seeing that they were both secure and perhaps still recovering from being shown-up before, advanced on his own, wielding his assault rifle with deadly precision.

She and Thane were momentarily alone, crouched behind the couch. He breathed steadily beside her; it was only slightly ragged from exertion. Their thighs and elbows touched and even though the firefight raged just a few feet away she felt the sharp lance of desire burn through her. The voice of her old drill master echoed in the back of her brain: _You get distracted, you get dead. Keep your head in the game. _She stuck her head over the couch for a moment. Garrus had the Blue Suns Commander pinned down and was chipping away at his shields. He would be glad of the chance to steal the glory for once if she took a small break.

Oh, if only Miranda was here to see this. She'd probably have some sort of aneurysm.

Thane was watching her, and when she sank back down she caught his eye, grinned, and leaned in to give him a kiss on the mouth. He warmed to the idea at once surprisingly, sliding his free hand around her waist and drawing her close. His lips were cool and dry and very strong, and they molded around hers with fervor. In the back of her mind there was a voice saying that this was stupid, so very stupid, but she didn't care. The sound of gunfire faded away into the background as she deepened the kiss. Thane's fingers pressed hard into her side, thumb stroking along the underside of her breast over her hardsuit. She sighed against his mouth, pushing past his lips and teeth with her tongue. For a moment she kissed him deeply, stroking his tongue with her own, breathing in his heady scent, before a firm hand pushed her gently away by the shoulder. Sarah looked up into liquid black eyes.

"Siha…perhaps now is not the best time for that. I think we both remember what happened last time." He grinned. "It's one of my favorite memories to revisit."

After the elevator encounter Sarah had sat in front of her fish tank for an hour discussing hanar politics with her thessian sunfish.

She licked her lips, they were tingling faintly. He was right. Now was not the time to be tripping balls off some drell saliva.

"You're right," she smiled wickedly at him, squeezing his thigh. "We'll pick this up later."

There was a final burst of gunfire and a satisfied grunt from Garrus. "Come on you two. You can suck face later. Be thankful that I'm not Miranda."

Shepard emerged from behind the couch and gave Garrus a good-natured punch on the arm. "You might feel differently if I started to kiss your ugly mug."

Garrus chuckled dryly. "I'm sure."

The trio made their way to the mess hall after checking the dormitory for spare equipment, where Garrus laughed to hear about the mercenary who moved to Omega. Sure enough, a large pile of dirt and rock lay where the unfortunate mercenary Phillips had broken through the mess wall while expanding the mining tunnels.

"Shepard if you're not careful Grunt's going to do something like this on the Normandy," quipped Garrus.

"Yeah, tell me about it. The doc thinks he might be going through some sort of 'hormonal upheaval'. Christ, that's exactly what we need right now."

The turian opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the wave of mercenaries coming from the mining tunnels, guns blazing. The Normandy crew dove behind tables and began to return fire. The firefight was short lived, and the last merc slumped over on the tile floor within two minutes of the first shot. Shepard shouldered her rifle.

"You know, sometimes I think they're not even trying."

Thane walked up behind her and leaned down to speak in her ear. "Perhaps they were just not counting on you, siha."

She shivered. God, he was going to be the death of her.

They moved on cautiously through the tunnels, passing abandoned equipment and supplies.

At the end of the tunnel was a door, and here Sarah paused. "Get ready, if our scans are accurate the transmitter should be in here."

Garrus popped a fresh heat sink into his M-15. "They'll never know what hit 'em. Let's go."

Shepard hit the control panel and the door slid open. The view of the warehouse was blocked by large crates and the three entered quietly.

She barely stopped herself from jumping out of her hard suit when the voice of the captain came up over the loudspeaker. "Whoever you are, you won't make it out of here alive!"

Recovering quickly, Commander Shepard shouted back. "Bring it fucker!" Rifle raised, she strafed down the ramp, ready for battle with the other two close behind.

Around the corner, in full view of the rest of the warehouse, she stopped. "Oh, shit."

Across the room, with a whirring of gears and stomp of metal feet, two YMIR mechs were activating. "Move, move, move!" she shouted, switching to the Particle Beam. All three of them sprinted into cover.

The noise from the mechs main gun was deafening, and it only got louder when Thane and Garrus opened fire. She peeked up from behind the crate, gauging the position of the nearest mech and priming the beam. It turned, focusing on Thane.

Rage boiled hot in her belly and she stood, bracing her feet. _Eat this._ The particle beam sliced through the mech's shields like a hot knife through butter. Sparks showered the ground around the YMIR, and it turned away from Thane and toward the source of annoyance. She ducked back down and waited while it blasted away at the crate. When it paused to reload she took aim again, nailing it square in the chest from less than ten feet away. It exploded with a blast that sent half-melted chunks of metal flying through the air in all directions. Sarah didn't even have time to think before the second mech came into view off to the side, getting enough hits in to bring down her own shields and send her sprinting across the floor for better cover.

The missile the mech fired after her came close enough that she could feel its heat through her suit, destroying the containers nearby with explosive force, flames roiling up from the wreckage. Garrus' rifle was singing nonstop, trying to draw the mech's attention away from the Commander while her shilds regenerated as she kneeled behind a piece of equipment, panting hard. The sharp cracks of a sniper rifle could be heard above the din; Thane had moved a little distance away and was taking shots at the head and other vital parts. A piece of shrapnel had grazed her thigh in her mad sprint for cover and her suit was responding in kind, the cool ooze of medi-gel dulling the sting. The reassuring hum of her shields coming back online was music to Sarah's ears.

Thudding metal feet were drawing closer and she stood, strafing across the distance to a nearby pillar and blasting the mech with her particle beam. It reeled, bits of metal exoskeleton dropping away, exposing the wires and tubes underneath. The YMIR's gait was off-kilter and it shuffled towards her like the Terminator in the classic vid. It was almost done for.

When its guns fell silent momentarily Shepard stepped out of cover. The air all around shimmered as the particle beam cleaved through it and the damaged mech. This time, Shepard was too close. When the energy-core of the mech exploded, the force lifted her off her feet and sent her flying. She landed, arms and legs flailing, flat on her back, the air expelling from her lungs and her head cracking hard enough against the floor that she saw stars. Bits of flaming mech were still raining down all around.

Sarah struggled to take a breath, gasping for air open-mouthed like a fish out of water. Whistling, shallow gasps were all she could manage. She stared up at the florescent lights, willing her diaphragm to relax. Suddenly the light was gone, and Thane's scaly head filled her field of vision. He leaned over her, hands planted on either side of her.

"Siha, look at me. Be calm. Relax. Breathe slowly in…" She did so, squirming from lack of oxygen. "And breathe out. Just listen to my voice. In…out."

She did, and thought no other sound could be as calming. His eyes gazed steadily into hers, but there was a worried tension in the set of his shoulders. Slowly, her lungs began to fill more and more, and her ragged breaths began to sound less desperate.

_Breathe in. Breathe out. Easy as pie. _

"Contact!"

_Crap._

It was Garrus, leveling his rifle at the far side of the room where more mercs were streaming in, led by a heavily armed Captain Narom. Thane's head snapped up. They were easy targets on the floor.

Shepard was still trying to reconnect her brain and her extremities to _GET THE FUCK UP_ when Thane bodily picked her up and hustled them both behind cover while Garrus lay down suppressing fire. Sarah was distantly impressed; he was _built_ under all that leather. Assuring himself that she was secure and regaining control of her faculties, he slid out to assist Garrus. Lungs finally filling properly, Shepard rolled to a crouch and assessed the situation. From her angle, she could see the Captain behind cover, shouting order to his men.

_Gotcha._

Her sniper rifle was in her hands in the space of three heartbeats and she looked down the scope, settling the butt of the gun in the crook of her shoulder. Narom's head was just visible from where he was laying low across the room. He'd forgotten about her for the moment.

She forced her breathing to slow and settled him in the crosshairs, listening to the beating of her own heart.

_Thump thump…thump thump, now!_ In the space between them she squeezed the trigger, the deafening crack reverberating off her bones. Blood and bits of skull matter were splattered against the wall behind where the now dead Captain Narom had been moments before. She hadn't missed.

It fell quiet once more.

"You might be able to compete with us with that thing after all Shepard," mused Garrus, coming over to her. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she said. "Just got the wind knocked out of me a bit."

"Got the shit kicked out of you is more like it," the turian growled. "Sprits Shepard, next time try _not_ blowing up a mech from four feet away."

She shrugged, wincing a bit, her lips twitching into the ghost of a smile as she glanced sidelong at Thane. "Whatever works."

Garrus rolled his eyes and jerked his head toward the control room. "Come on, let's disable this thing and get out of here."

With the transmitter overloaded they headed back out the way they came. Shepard pressed her comm. "Normandy Shuttle, it's Shepard here. Start warming up the engines, we're on our way out."

"Copy that Commander."

They didn't look twice at the carnage they passed on their way out. The humming of the lights and life support, and their own footsteps, were the only sound in the now empty base.

Shepard itched in her armor. "God, first thing I'm doing back on the ship is taking a shower."

"I thought you were eager to get back for dinner siha," said Thane, gentle amusement in his voice.

She wrinkled her nose. "Crap, I forgot."

Garrus laughed. "Decisions, decisions."

They were outside now, heading toward the shuttle well on its way through the start-up sequence.

"Siha, may I suggest a solution?"

"Yes, of course Thane."

"If you wish, I can secure meals for both of us from the dining hall, and bring them to your cabin while you bathe."

A dinner date? She liked the sound of that.

"I accept your solution drell," she said cheekily. "I'll tell EDI to let you in."

Garrus, to his credit said nothing, though it may have been the death glare Sarah shot him, daring him to speak.

They piled into the shuttle, and Shepard sat down heavily, relishing the chance to sit and rest for the first time in two hours. Her stomach dropped a bit as it lifted into the sky, speeding back toward the waiting Normandy.

"And don't forget siha," said Thane in a carefully controlled voice, face full of wicked mischief, "we have some face-sucking to resume."

Garrus howled with laughter.

Touché, assassin.

_Touché._


End file.
